Medically important differences in snake venom composition are dictated by distinct postgenomic mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: Variation in venom composition is a ubiquitous phenomenon in snakes and occurs both interspecifically and intraspecifically. Venom variation can have severe outcomes for snakebite victims by rendering the specific antibodies found in antivenoms ineffective against heterologous toxins found in different venoms. The rapid evolutionary expansion of different toxin-encoding gene families in different snake lineages is widely perceived as the main cause of venom variation. However, this view is simplistic and disregards the understudied influence that processes acting on gene transcription and translation may have on the production of the venom proteome. Here, we assess the venom composition of six related viperid snakes and compare interspecific changes in the number of toxin genes, their tran

SUBMITTER: Casewell NR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4078820 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature